April will go into the history books as an unseasonably warm and dry month across San Diego County, conditions that make the region more prone to wildfires as summer draws near, according to preliminary data from the National Weather Service.
The numbers are not as bleak was they were in March, when San Diego International Airport received only a trace of rain during a month in which it averages 1.46 inches of precipitation.
But the latest data indicate that San Diego’s total rainfall for April will turn out to be only 0.23 inches, which is 0.39 inches below average.
The county did have a fairly wet winter. But firefighters were hoping that the region would receive the sort of abundant spring rains that keep chaparral wet for longer periods of time, especially in the backcountry, where most big wildfires occur.
Weather service data also show that San Diego’s average monthly temperature for April will be roughly 64.1 degrees, which is 1.5 degrees above average.
The relative warmth will continue. San Diego’s daytime high is forecast to be 70 on Friday, 72 on Saturday and 70 on Sunday. The seasonal average is 69. There is no significant rainfall in the seven-day forecast.